Referrals and honesty among Realtors

One day while sitting at Phone Duty I got a call from another Keller Williams agent in Houston. She had a client looking to lease a condo close to the University of Texas campus. She asked for someone that knew the area well. I told her she was in luck as I had lived there for about six years and was very familiar with the neighborhood. She and I connected because I grew up in Houston in a neighborhood close to hers.

I called the potential client and we chatted about what they wanted and I set up a search for him.I asked him if he was interested in purchasing a condo instead of leasing and he said no. So I dropped it. Over the next two weeks I sent him properties for lease and pointed out the ones I thought were the nicest. They came to Austin the following week to see the condos. When I met them we discovered they were living in my old neighborhood in Clear Lake.

The clients arrive in Austin and we meet at my office. They signed all the necessary paperwork and off we went to look at condos for lease. I also had a few listings for sale in the same area tucked in my briefcase just in case. After looking at some of the lease properties I picked up the stack of condo listings. The client said what is that? We have not seen that one, have we? I said no we have not seen it because its for sale, not for lease. He said can we see it too? I said of course. Then I pulled out the comps for the condos for sale in the UT neighborhood and showed him it was a great value. Then I pulled out the comps from four years ago and showed him the price per square foot had gone up an average of 48 dollars in just the last four years. While I can't predict what the market will do in the future, I can show him what it has done in the past. I commented that most kids are in college for four years. If this trend continues when his son is out of college he could probably sell the condo for a tidy profit or at lease recoup the money spent. We looked at five of the sale listings and they really liked one just two blocks from campus.

They ended up purchasing the condo instead of leasing. So I called the Houston agent that gave me the  referral and asked for her details so I could make sure her commission arrived safely. She said "I am not looking to get any money off a lease client, please don't bother with it". I said "No, you did not give me a lease, you gave me a client. This client is buying a condo instead of leasing and I want to give you the referral split." She was shocked that I was able to convince them that buying was better than leasing and doubly shocked that I was an honest agent willing to give her the referral split.

This was one of my favorite deals because I made two new friends out of this deal. Now whenever she has anyone coming to the Austin area for any reason, I know she won't call anyone but me! Honesty is always the best policy. Remember to treat others as you would wish to be treated. Pay it forward!

 

Austin Home Girls Realty

Reinae Kessler -Broker

Betina Foreman- Realtor, Blogger

512-771-6318